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Pros and cons of Vitamin C flush, “ascorbic acid cleanse” and why it is not a safe practice for regular use, especially for children.
Ever since Linus Pauling popularized the practice of taking high dose vitamin C orally to combat the common cold in the early 1970s, some within the alternative health community have enthusiastically touted the benefits of a “vitamin C flush” or ascorbate cleanse.
I’ve always been skeptical of taking large doses of isolated vitamins for any purpose. Using nutrients like drugs seems a short-sighted approach to healing. I am particularly dubious of large doses of ascorbic acid separated from the beneficial flavonoids and other co-factors present in whole food forms of Vitamin C.
How to Take High Dose Vitamin C Orally (Vitamin C Flush)
The primary goal of flushing the body with high doses of vitamin C is to achieve rapid detoxification or speed recovery from an illness.
Note that it is quite different from a niacin flush, which also assists in cleansing. One alternative practitioner once recommended a high dose vitamin C when my toddler had a fever.
I didn’t take this advice for reasons covered a bit later in the article.
Here’s the process in a nutshell:
- In the morning ideally, on an empty stomach, take 1000 milligrams of ascorbic acid powder mixed into 4 ounces of filtered water. Buffered ascorbate powder, which is ascorbic acid bound to minerals like calcium, magnesium, or potassium, is another option. If you have a sensitive stomach, buffered ascorbic acid is the better choice.
- Repeat every half hour until you make a mad dash for the bathroom with an urgent case of watery diarrhea. A loose stool is not sufficient. Keep going until a large amount of liquid is rapidly evacuated from the body. At that point, do not take any more ascorbic acid that day.
- Drink plenty of filtered water, homemade electrolyte beverage, and bone broth to prevent dehydration.
- Optional step. If desired, cut the dosage by at least half and continue to take every four hours for the next 1-2 days to continue the detoxification process. The goal is to maintain loose, but not watery stools. If stools are too loose, cut the dose back further before continuing.
- Some practitioners suggest doing a flush once a week for 3-6 months.
How Much Ascorbic Acid is Needed?
The average person requires 4-8 1000 mg doses of ascorbic acid or ascorbate powder for the initial bathroom run to occur.
See what I mean about high-dose vitamin C being used as a drug instead of a nutrient?
I had a college acquaintance who essentially did the same thing with over-the-counter laxatives from the pharmacy in order to fit into her skinny jeans before a big party!
Ascorbate Cleanse Benefits?
Detoxification with high doses of ascorbic acid will quickly resolve any vitamin C deficiency that exists.
That is the only benefit I can identify from this natural remedy. Whether it is worth the stress and strain of forcing a rapid and violent excretory response is doubtful!
I can report that in two decades of raising 3 children, I have never found the need to use this type of flush for any reason.
There are simply too many other options that accomplish the same thing much more gently!
Forcing violent diarrhea on yourself let alone a child seems excessive!
Vitamin C Flush Risks
Warning: Some people get a migraine-like headache from ingesting large amounts of plain ascorbic acid in such a short period of time.
An ascorbic acid-induced headache can last for 1-2 days and does not easily respond to over-the-counter pain medication. It can be quite debilitating.
Bloating and a flare-up of hemorrhoids after a flush are potential side effects as well.
Whole food vitamin C does not typically cause the same problem. In fact, it’s much harder to accomplish an ascorbate flush using whole food vitamin C.
This is because the ascorbic acid is bound with synergistic co-factors not present in plain ascorbic acid. These substances have a mitigating effect on the violent detoxification response.
They also allow you to take far fewer milligrams per day to achieve optimal vitamin C status
Doesn’t this tell you something right there?
Whole Vitamin C Compared to Ascorbic Acid
Here are some of the best whole food vitamin C products on the market and how much real ascorbic acid each contains.
For reference, 1/2 tsp of plain ascorbic acid powder contains roughly 2,500 mg of synthetically derived Vitamin C.
Compare to these whole food sources of L-ascorbic acid (whole Vitamin C complex) below.
- Pure Radiance Whole Food Vitamin C: 1/2 tsp contains 240 mg natural L-ascorbic acid
- Organic Acerola Powder (no additives): 1/2 tsp contains 240 mg natural L-ascorbic acid
- Royal Camu Powder Whole Food Vitamin C: 1/2 tsp contains 100 mg natural L-ascorbic acid
- Premier Whole Food Vitamin C: 1/2 tsp contains 40 mg natural L-ascorbic acid
As you can see, the plain ascorbic acid powder is a minimum of 10 times more potent than the best whole food vitamin C supplements on the market!
Why is isolated ascorbic acid so different from whole food vitamin C?
The reason is that it is synthetic at best and GMO at worst!
Isolated ascorbic acid powder must be made in a factory. This includes liposomal Vitamin C, much touted in the alternative community. I personally avoid it.
Whole vitamin C from food always comes with synergistic substances that enhance its many benefits. Using plain ascorbic acid or ascorbate to do rapid detoxification is indeed like using a drug.
GMO Vitamin C
Another problem is ascorbic acid from a genetically modified source. GMO corn is the usual culprit. If this is the case, then the risk of ingesting glyphosate residue is very real.
The residue exposure is very small, to be sure, but if you have the choice to not consume it and use a nonGMO whole food Vitamin C, then why not? Glyphosate is a suspected carcinogen and at the very least, damages beneficial gut flora even in minute amounts.
The EU Parliament recently voted to ban it by 2022. The UK is considering a similar measure. (1)
Conventional farmers, if you recall, heavily and repeatedly spray GMO crops with Roundup. They are genetically modified to withstand the onslaught of the herbicide as they are “Roundup Ready”.
It’s true that dozens of nonGMO crops like wheat are sprayed with Roundup too (primarily for desiccation purposes just prior to harvest). However, conventional farms douse GMO corn, soy, sugar beets, and canola much more heavily and repeatedly.
Health Risks from High Dose Ascorbic Acid
While a Vitamin C flush is a short-term process, there are many folks who get somewhat addicted to the detoxifying effects that are so easily achieved. Hence the popularity of those Emergen-C packets which are available everywhere now – even at gas stations!
Beware!
500+ mg of plain ascorbic acid a day may increase the risk for arterial plaque buildup. Another study showed that people taking ascorbic acid supplements may be more prone to gallstones. Although ascorbic acid was discovered in the 17th century and is critical to human health, its complete role still remains a mystery with many contradictions in the research studying its beneficial health effects! (2)
The bottom line is that it’s best to stick with natural, whole food forms of vitamin C. Avoid high doses of isolated ascorbic acid or buffered ascorbic acid (ascorbate) devoid of beneficial co-factors.
Alternatives to a Vitamin C Flush
There is no doubt that detoxification helps with healing and recovery from illness. However, forcing the issue with megadoses of synthetic vitamin C does not seem wise.
Here are 4 suggestions for safer detoxification options. They will work just as well as a vitamin C flush without the violent intestinal response!
- Epsom Salt Baths: Epsom salt is magnesium sulfate crystals. Soaking the feet or the entire body in a warm bath with a small number of Epsom salts added will gently encourage elimination without stress and strain. In fact, any regular program of detoxification bathing would be helpful. Be sure to buy the best Epsom salt by looking for proper labeling.
- Coffee Enemas: The word “enema” is a repulsive word for some. However, the process is ancient and the detoxification results are profound. See the linked article for more detail. If using an enema bag is off-putting, ready to use, saline enema bottles are available for just a few dollars at the pharmacy. Be sure to get a brand without chemical additives.
- Castor Oil Pack: Oral castor oil is another way to invoke a violent diarrhea response similar to a vitamin C flush. Sometimes pregnant women use it to start labor without induction drugs (not recommended!). When used externally on the abdomen, however, the results are gentle but still very effective.
- Cleansing Herbs: A simple detox tea (this one is very effective) can gently invoke an elimination response without violent diarrhea.
Therapeutic Uses for High Dose Vitamin C
We’ve established that using high-dose vitamin C for basic detoxification in otherwise healthy people may not be such a great idea.
If a person is gravely ill with few options for recovery, however, high dose vitamin C therapy especially intravenously can prove helpful.
Cancer Therapy
For example, emerging evidence is that high doses of ascorbic acid or ascorbate can play an important role in holistic cancer therapies. (2)
High doses of C are useful in conjunction with conventional treatment. For example, researchers have already published research concerning how ascorbate/ascorbic acid effectively fights tumor cells.
Removal of Amalgams
It is also helpful to use intravenous Vitamin C to detox after removal of mercury amalgams.
In this instance, the Vitamin C ensures that any mercury that gets loose in the bloodstream during the removal of the silver fillings is hastened to the excretory system before it can get deposited for storage in the fat cells.
Situations like these are examples where high dose vitamin C treatment can prove helpful. However, it is important not to jump on the bandwagon for routine illnesses especially where children are concerned.
While high dose vitamin C definitely has its place as holistic therapy for the critically ill, healthy people simply seeking to detox should use it with caution.
Fast is not necessarily better, which is why I’ve always said “no” to this natural remedy.
What about using Boron (in the form of diluted Borax) for joint pain and overall health? Is there a more natural form of whole food boron that you’d recommend instead? (I believe that Sally Fallon uses Borax, so interested in hearing your thoughts on if this is different than using isolated vitamin C to treat an illness.)
I am not in favor of using diluted borax. Have never used it, never intend to use it 🙂
“500+ mg of plain ascorbic acid a day may increase the risk for arterial plaque buildup. Another study showed that people taking ascorbic acid supplements may be more prone to gallstones.”
Curious about these studies because they seem to contradict Linus Pauling’s research into ascorbic acid. Would you mind providing more details? Did you actually think these were good, sound studies?
Yes, the research is indeed contradictory! As mentioned in the article, the fact that there is still much that is not known about ascorbic acid and the contradictory studies says to me to stick with whole food Vitamin C and not isolated, synthetic ascorbic acid that is overused by many.
1 drop of SSKI contains approximately 50 mg of iodine which is hundreds of times more than the RDA, and certainly way more than anyone gets by eating seaweed. Yes, it is indeed “high dose”. And the fact that you instruct people to inquire about it at a pharmacy and ask their doctor for a prescription for it indicates that you are, in fact, using it like a drug. A truly natural expectorant would be something like marshmallow root infusion. But it won’t work nearly as well or as quickly as SSKI 🙂
You don’t consider potassium iodide to be an isolated nutrient, but potassium ascorbate (buffered vitamin C which you mention as one of the options in the flush) is no good because it’s isolated? Both of these are isolated from their co-factors that appear in whole foods.
Also, the benefits of high dose vitamin C (not just for cancer treatment as you allude to, but for a myriad of other illnesses) cannot be obtained from ingesting whole food vitamin C. Yes, whole food vitamin C is superb at resolving scurvy, but it does not have the drug-like capacity that high dose Vitamin C has. And it this drug-like effect that people seek when they use it to “speed recovery from an illness”. Just like you will not get the expectorant response from eating seaweed. It is the high dose of iodine in SSKI that does the trick. And yes, using SSKI as an expectorant is indeed using high doses of a nutrient to achieve a drug-like effect. The fact that one effect might be gentle and one might be “violent” is irrelevant. Ingesting castor oil, which you mention, produces an incredibly violent diarrhea for some and includes the risk of dehydration (and decreasing fetal fluid if done to induce labor). And while enemas have an ancient history in medicine, “coffee enemas” only date back to 1917, which is around the same time as physicians started using high dose vitamin C as a cure (see articles in the Journal of Orthomolecular Medicine for a more detailed history of its use).
I think, perhaps, you need to make a distinction between people who are seeking to “detox” for the sake of just cleansing their system, and people who are using vitamin C to recover from an illness (even one that is not life-threatening). Those who are ill choose Vitamin C as a less dangerous option to drugs, just like you take SSKI as a safer alternative to OTC cough syrup.
As mentioned in my previous comment, SSKI is a mineral based remedy used at least since the early 1900’s. It is not a vitamin like high dose, synthetic ascorbic acid popularized only recently with much conflicting research as to its safety at high doses.
I did make the very distinction you are referring to already in the post with the exception that I do not view using high dose, synthetic ascorbic acid to be beneficial when recovering from a non-life threatening illness. Why not use whole food vitamin C? I’ve never found a need to use high dose C in 20 years raising three children (never used antibiotics). There are so many other more gentle, less risky remedies that accomplish the same thing just as effectively! Only when the illness is grave and life threatening do I consider high dose, synthetic ascorbic acid an appropriate treatment option.
If you disagree, that’s fine! Do whatever you like 🙂
Suzanne Humphries discusses this on her website, which is recommended by WAPF as a source for vaccine information: westonaprice.org/vaccinations/
drsuzanne.net/2017/10/sodium-ascorbate-vitamin-c-treatment-of-whooping-cough-suzanne-humphries-md/
Also, the Nourishing Traditions Book of Baby and Child Care recommends high dose vitamin C for strep throat (4-10 grams per day of liposomal vitamin C or higher), so a recommendation like this might also be reasonable for a serious case of pertussis as well.
How do you feel about liposomal vitamin C?
I don’t know anyone who uses vit C as you described above. Maybe they exist. We use it for acute bacterial infection (mastitis, tooth infection, UTI, etc.), use it to loose stools only, use it with bioflavonoids, and stop 24hrs after symptoms cease. It’s extremely effective.
For cold & flu, we use 4 cloves of crushed raw garlic, or garlic oil on the feet or in the ear for children too young to take garlic straight.
Excellent.
I’m really amazed by this article. We have some of the best holistic doctors in the world reversing illnesses like pneumonia etc with a day or so of high dose sodium ascorbate with incredible results! Of course they are using non gmo sodium ascorbate. Dr Levy is an authority. Check his website! Thank you
Pneumonia would be considered a serious and life threatening illness as covered at the end of the article.
What are your thoughts on the high dose vitamin C protocol to treat whooping cough?
I haven’t seen or examined any research on it. If a person is gravely ill from pertussis, then it would be appropriate as discussed at the end of the article. I’ve known a number of people in my community who did not get very sick from contracting pertussis, though, so in those cases, probably not necessary to shock the body like that.
Why are you averse to high dose Vitamin C to speed recovery from an illness, but you recommend high dose iodine as a cough expectorant?
https://www.thehealthyhomeeconomist.com/sski-the-best-cough-expectorant-youve-never-tried/
I wouldn’t consider using SSKI as an expectorant to be high dose at all … you certainly have no violent physical reactions from it! You use A FEW DROPS in a glass of water, ONCE per day for a few days. It elicits a very gentle expectorant action!
Also, SSKI is not an isolated synthetic vitamin, which is what I said I didn’t like in the post. SSKI is two minerals (iodine and potassium) in solution.